Ahh, guess I better get my idea up before it bites me in the rear and I end up not posting an idea at all. Some pretty fun ideas so far!

8MM

Weld: Flashlight and Digital Voice Recorder

Text: "You get out the welding torch, some solder, and some previously unmentioned, miscellaneous parts from your equally previously unmentioned attic, and weld the two items together. Super-duper to the Max!"

Would be interesting to make it equip-able of equipment or offhand, with an effect of an item increase. If an item's found after a battle, it'd also grant an additional 3 xp. Thus, the amount it increases xp would directly affect the frequency of the secondary effect. I'm thinking +4%.

Usage text. "While watching grainy footage of yourself in action from a few seconds ago, you notice $item fall out of your opponent's pocket and out of sight. You track it down. You gain an additional xp from finding it. And an extra 2 more exp from the depressing knowledge that the camera's putting on more than the 5 pounds you expected."

The "Super Duper to the Max" is an obvious reference to types of 8MM film.

Ducktape + any Gloves"Sticky Bandits" Gloves(From Home Alone 2:Harry and Marv (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern), the "Wet Bandits" from the first film, have broken out of prison in Chicago and have found their way to New York trying to find a new target. Marv also comes up with a new nickname for the duo, the "Sticky Bandits", based on his ability to steal things with the use of double-sided tape.)Power: 1+(3-5)% Items

discount pantsThese pants, let’s not mention the “belt”, look and are very cheap, but that’s not why they’re called discount pants. Everything that happens to find its way into one of the many, many pockets of these oversized pants comes with a big discount. And somehow, perhaps the sheer number of pockets creates a kind of “gravity”, a lot of things end up in your pockets.All the free stuff in your pants is kinda getting in the way of walking, though.

+# % item-drop-# % reflexes-# % initiative

(and yes, I have contact info for both of these people)

_________________The churches are empty / The priest has gone home / And we are left standing / Together alone--October Project: "Dark Time"

As smoke pours out from all the openings in the pack and you begin to think... maybe I shouldn't have put that wand in there. You run to your hideout before Smokey the Bear sees the smoke and to decide whether to open the pack or not.

First, I want to say this was tough. There are a LOT of recipes here that I really liked. In fact, I may use and/or adapt nearly half of them at some point. Thanks to everyone who entered -- I laughed out loud at a number of these, and had fun reading them.

Grossest entry goes to reaper for the pinkeye gumball. It's funny, but .... I just can't make someone eat that, not even in an imaginary world.

From the "it's a shame it wasn't their first entry" category, come several that I might have considered if they fit the rules better or were the first recipe. Clever recipes, good references, funny, or great names, these are good suggestions, but weren't quite right.

Honorable mentions: Ivory Coast Ginger Beer, Robbin' Hood, Discount Pants, and the Futility belt. The ginger beer is a good recipe, the robbin' hood is VERY easy to visualize, the pants are funny, and the futility belt has been something I've been meaning to do for a while (not sure if Jesus was the originator or just happened to hit on something that's been mentioned previously).

This one just made me laugh. Also, it's a good way to introduce joke items, and they're always fun.

Conclusion:

I'll need at least a few days to start creating the items. Winners will get their prizes, which will be announced here as soon as I remember to decide what they're supposed to be. (This is bad form, and I apologize; nobody else would be allowed to run a contest without stipulating the complete prize, and I shouldn't have been either.)

If I use anyone else's exact recipe later on, I'll give 50 of that item to the inventor, too, as stipulated at the beginning of the contest.

This thing looked good on paper, but holding it in your hand all you can think of is "You'll shoot your eye out, kid." You can't really shoot your eye out with it, although something tells you that you can come close.

+10 Melee damageCritical hits become fumblesSometimes returns 5% of weapon damage as damage to you

Someone has to have had the idea, but a board search said no one had used the word "flail".

Score crit!Epic Flail makes it a fumble!Self-Balancing makes it a crit!Epic Flail makes it a fumble!Self-Balancing makes it a crit!Epic Flail makes it a fumble!Self-Balancing makes it a crit!Epic Flail makes it a fumble!Self-Balancing makes it a crit!Epic Flail makes it a fumble!Game crashes and Ryme kills me dead!

_________________The churches are empty / The priest has gone home / And we are left standing / Together alone--October Project: "Dark Time"

Heh. It's value could be given as "priceless", but when you try to sell it... "It turns out that it's only worth one million theoretical chips. No one actually wants to give you anything for it."

And it could have a "discard" link... "You slip the flail into an inconspicuous nook and try to stealthily walk away, but a few seconds later a helpful citizen trots up to you and returns it. No matter how hard you try, no one will let you forget your Epic Flail."

So, um, it's only been, what, more than half a year? Anyway, the smoky pack actually does something now. Really sorry it took so darn long, hopefully it's worth the wait. I think the stuff that came out of this contest was a fantastic success. Really good stuff. I should probably do another round of culling from the entries for some more fun goods.